VOL. 36 • ISS. 25

with the East Bay Regional Park District for managing the recreational facilities. The lake will reopen on President Day’ s weekend in February 2018.

Robbie Dunham of Team Koke Machine Guide Service reported top-notch fishing during the final Friday of the season. He caught and released 17 rainbows while trolling with Speedy Shiners up the river arm.

PYRAMID LAKE

Shore Cutthroat Bite Starts Picking Up

RENO- The shore bite at Pyramid Lake is by no means“ hot” at this time, but for the first time in the young season, it is showing signs of life.

A source that wished to remain anonymous, and keep his location clandestine, reported a very good shore bite on a nice grade of fish.“ We caught three fish in the 8-10 pound range on the fly rod,” he said.“ We also caught a few smaller fish.”

Good shore spots can quickly be ruined by big crowds, so if a spot is consistently producing, and no one else is there, it’ s prudent to keep that info tight to the vest. Meanwhile, there is a not so secret bite for boaters trolling U-20 Flatfish along the bottom at many west shore beaches.

Jeff Morris disclosed,“ The wind kept us off the water last week, and the shore bite was dead for me. We have been doing well when we get the boat out.”

For as well as the bite has been going, most anglers have been struggling to produce big fish. That’ s not to say that big fish aren’ t a possibility. Anytime you have a line in the water at Pyramid Lake, a 10-25 pound Lahontan Cutthroat is a possibility. As of this writing, a fair amount of 10-15 pound trout have been weighed in.

As Thanksgiving time approaches, the shore bite should be excellent. However, many of the traditional fall spots are closed, including Howard and Dago Bays.

Both of these spots have been excellent over the last few seasons. This is a real loss for fly fishermen in particular, as these locations are the perfect depth for dragging a wooly bugger along the bottom.

- Mike McNeilly

QUARRY LAKES

Trout Offer Fantastic Bite

FREMONT – Fishing for rainbow trout and channel catfish has been superb at Quarry Lakes over the past couple of weeks.

“ Lots of trout are being pulled out, and the catfish are still biting at Horseshoe Lake,” reported Joe Sullivan of the East Bay Regional Park District.“ We had three plants in October, totaling 3,000 pounds of

Doug Greening bagged this impressive 6 pound rainbow while trolling a Shasta Tackle Humdinger this fall.

Photo courtesy of GARY MIRALLES, Mack’ s Lure.

Mt. Lassen trout.”

“ Please be aware that we have started our winter hours this weekend, with the gates opening at 7 am and closing at 5 pm.,” said Doucette.

Gary“ Studler” brought up two beautiful cats, both just under 6 lbs. He caught them in Horseshoe on Rapalas while trolling for trout, noted Sullivan.

Dexter Miguel brought up a nice 5.2-lb rainbow trout, also caught on Horseshoe with Rapalas. Coco Maravilla of Hayward caught a beautiful 7.1-lb rainbow trout off of fisherman’ s row on PowerBait.

Carlos Rodriguez landed two rainbows weighing 6.25 lbs and 8.5 lbs on Fisherman’ s Row using green PowerBait.“ Lucky” Mark Nguyen caught a hefty 9.5-lb rainbow trout in Horseshoe using green PowerBait.

You can exchange lead tackle at the kiosk in a“ 1 for 1” trade for stainless steel weights.

REDDING / RED BLUFF

Late Season Kings Provide Thrills

REDDING- After a late October salmon drought, kings are once again surging up the Sacramento River and anglers are enjoying awesome results.

“ The fishing is really good right now. There are lots of salmon in the river and anglers are getting limits and near limits most days,” reported Robert Weese of Northern California Guide Service.“ The only downside of the fishing right now is we are not seeing those jumbo fish we often see in November, but they may be on the way. Currently most of the fish are chrome

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bright and running 9 to 12 pounds.”

“ Early in the morning I’ m running plugs and we typically pick up a fish or two. Around 9 o’ clock I break out the roe and that’ s when we see lots of action. Once the sun is up the roe fishing gets really good,” exclaimed Weese.

Mike Bogue, like Weese has been putting his clients on some solid late season salmon action. Bogue starts out with Flatfish plugs and then switches over to working Pautzke cured roe.

If you’ d like a crack at a limit of late run chromers up in the Redding area, give Robert Weese or Mike Bogue a call. They are two of the best sticks on the river and will work hard to get you fish. To contact Weese, call( 530) 755-7196. To reach Mike Bogue, dial( 530) 246-8457.

RIO VISTA

Stripers Lead Autumn Angling Parade

RIO VISTA- Striped bass fishing continues to provide excellent action, with salmon and sturgeon also on tap.

Anglers fishing bait below Rio Vista were catching good numbers of feisty, fall-run striped bass this week according to Craig Kamikawa at Fisherman’ s Warehouse in Sacramento.

“ It seems as the water has gotten cooler, the bite has been getting better. Shad, anchovies or sardines are working good. Some guys are running live mudsuckers or jumbo minnows,” he tipped.

“ Cut bait works better on the Sacramento River, and live bait is working better on the San Joaquin. You’ re

Nov. 24- Dec. 8, 2017

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fishing deeper on the Sac, and shallow on the San Joaquin” he added.

Sturgeon fishing was rated as fair, with the diamondbacks being landed on the Sacramento River.

“ Sherman Island and Decker Island both have their share of fish. There’ s been bigger pods of fish moving through with the tides than in years past. Use salmon roe or eel for bait.”

Anglers in search of salmon dwindled, with Kamikawa recommending Silvertrons on the troll.

“ They’ re still out there from Vieira’ s up to Sacramento. Troll chartreuse or half silver and chartreuse spinners,” he tipped.

ROLLINS / SCOTTS FLAT LAKE

Warm Fair Conditions Delay Fall Trout Bite

COLFAX- This is often the time of the year when fishing really sparks to life at both Rollins and Scotts Flat Reservoirs, but so far this fall has been an exception to the rule. The weather has largely been warm and sunny. This combined with a lack of trout plants have set the stage for a prolonged period of slow fishing.

“ I’ m pretty much over catching small bass, but that’ s all you’ re likely to get if you visit Rollins and Scotts Flat right now,” reported Jason Pleece of Meadow Vista.“ I really want to start catching some trout, but for trout fishing to improve we either need the weather to get a lot of colder or we need the DFW to start making regular trout plants. In an ideal world, both of these things would take place and then we’ d enjoy the kind of trout fishing we had at Scotts and Rollins 10 years ago.”

“ Both of these lakes have populations of brown trout, but until the surface temperature really drops they are extremely elusive. Rainbow trout plants are a two-fold benefit to these fisheries. Most obviously, they provide trout for anglers to catch from both boats and the bank, but when rainbows are being planted it really seems to stimulate the brown trout bite,” observed Pleece.

“ I’ m hoping that we see some cold stormy weather soon. That in itself will sparks some brown trout activity. Until then you can target bass with crankbaits, topwater baits and small soft plastics, but don’ t count on hooking anything over 2 pounds. Personally, I’ m going to hold off until there is a change in the weather,” Pleece concluded.

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